Sealed container



1953 R. c. ELLSWORTH 2,649,239

SEALED CONTAINER Filed May 8, 1950 mmvrm BY [Ma/If W Patented Aug. 18, 1953 SEALED CONTAINER Ransom o. Ellsworth, Rittman, Ohio, assignor to The Ohio Boxboard Company, Rittman, Ohio,

a corporation of Ohio Application May 8, 1950, Serial No. 160,714

1 Claim. (01. 229-33) This invention relates to paper receptacles, and it has particular reference to a container made of paperboard material and which, due to its structural characteristics, may be opened for access to the contents and reclosed to protect such contents.

One object of the invention is to provide a container, especially of the type referred to, which, due to its construction, is capable of being set up for use and filled with a commodity to be packaged, and then closed and sealed by presently accepted practice and by known packaging machinery, and which has certain structural features, as will later appear, whereby the closing and sealing operations are made more positive and efficient. 7

Another object is to provide such a container having characteristics of construction, particularly as regards the means for sealing it in initial closed condition for sale, as will make readily evident to purchasers and others the fact that the seal has been broken, when such is the case.

The invention comprises, broadly, a container made preferably from a single integral blank of paperboard material out, scored and folded to produce a bottom, side wall and end wall members upstanding from the bottom, and a cover member hingedly connected to the upper edge of one of the side wall members and carrying a tuck-in fiap at its free edge opposite the hinge connection, this tuck-in flap being adapted for cooperation with the other side wall member to hold the cover member in closed condition, the said tuck-in flap and the side wall member with which it cooperates being provided with coacting means for sealing the flap, and hence the cover, in closed condition and furnishing a medium whereby the sealing operation may be facilitated and the seal thereafter readily broken and the cover opened and later reclosed, unsealed but in apparently relatively undamaged condition, all as will be explained hereinafter more fully and finally claimed.

In the accompanying drawing illustrating the invention, in the several figures of which like parts are similarly designated, Fig. 1 is a plan View of the exterior surface of a blank suitable for the production of the container of the invention; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the container in assembled, set-up condition before it is filled and the cover closed and sealed; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the container in closed and sealed condition; Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but illustrating the manner in which the seal maybe broken, and Fig. 5 is a schematic view illustrating the operation upon the container of the invention of one form of conventional compression conveyor employed for holding the adhesively secured cover and tuck-in flap in closed and sealed condition during the setting period required for the adhesive.

As shown particularly in Fig. l, the container blank comprises a single integral sheet of appropriate paperboard material cut and scored to provide a bottom I defined by folding scores 2, 3, 4 and 5, a side wall member 6 defined by folding scores 2, l and 8, another side wall'member 9 defined by folding scores 3, 10, II and I2, similar end wall members 13 and I4 foldable relatively to the bottom 1 upon the scores 4 and 5, respectively, and a cover member l5 hinged to the side wall member 9 upon the score l2. The side wall members 6 and 9 are provided with pairs of glue laps I6 and I1 foldable upon scores 1, 8 and 10, H, respectively, and the free upper edges of the end wall members l3 and I4 carry glue laps l8 foldable upon appropriate scores l9 so as to offstand inwardly of the container.

The cover member i5 is provided at its free edge opposite the hinge score 12 with a tuck-in flap 29 foldable relatively to the cover member upon a score 2|, and the side wall member 8, which may be called the front wall of the container, is provided with cuts 22 to form, vertically of its length, and inwardly of its upper edge, a bendable or relatively resilient displaceable tongue portion 23 for cooperation with the tuckin flap 2B of the cover member l5.

In assembling the container from this flat blank, so that it is in set-up condition for use, the side wall members 6 and 9, and end wall members 13 and I4 are bent upon their respective folding scores 2, 3 and 4, 5 into position substantially at right angles to the bottom l, and the glue laps l6 and ll of the side wall members are bent inwardly upon their scores I, 8 and 9, It and adhesively secured to the adjacent inner surfaces of the end wall members [3 and M, as partially shown in Fig. 2. All of these operations may be performed by known automatic machinery. Thus the container is in condition to be filled with the commodity to be packaged.

After the container is filled, the laps [8 on the upper edges of the end wall members I3 and M are folded inwardly upon their respective folding scores 19, the cover member I5 is folded downwardly upon its hinge score l2 and the tuck-in flap 20 is engaged with the other side wall member 6 in such a manner that its mid portion overlies the outer face of the tongue portion 23 and the rest of it lies inwardly of and in face to face contact with the side wall member flankin the tongue portion 23. thereof, and the cover member is sealed in this closed condition as will now be explained.

When the exterior of the container blank is printed, especially when it is color-printed all over, a glue or adhesive repellant ink'or color medium may be employed, in which case spot-gluing of the tuck-in flap 2!! and of the laps l8 at the upper edges of the end wall members [3 and I4 may be provided for by leaving areas thereof unprinted, as indicated by the broken-line outlines 24 and 25, respectively. This treatment of the flap and laps enables theuse of strip-gluing? rather than spot-gluing machinery in application of the adhesive and is the most economical procedure. However, when the type of printing or coloring referred to is not employed and the major portions of the tuck-in flap and end wall laps are receptive to adhesive, spots of glue may be applied in the areas indicated by the brokenline outlines 24 and 25.

In either case, it will be noted that although the glue or adhesive is applied in a manner adequate to seal the cover member in closed condition, its predetermined location with respect to the parts, as shown (2 25) in Fig. 2, is not such as to make breaking of the seal and opening of the cover member, and its re-closing, impossible, and this is intentional.

Having reference to Figs. 2, 3 and 4, it will be seen that, when the cover member is closed and sealed, the sealing will be effected by spots of adhesive 26 located between the side wall member and the tuck-in flap 2B in the areas flanking the tongue portion 23 of the side wall member, and also preferably, although not necessarily, by the spots of adhesive between the end laps l8 and the cover member. It will be noted, moreover, that the spots of adhesive 25 on the end laps are so located as to be somewhat remote from the tuck-in flap.

Hence, assuming that spots of adhesive are employed upon the end laps I8 as well as upon the tuck-in flap 29, it will be understood that when the mid portion of the tuck-in flap which overlies the tongue portion 23 of the side wall member is distorted by pressure applied inwardly (Fig. 4), the seal afiorded by the spots of adhesive on the tuck-in flap will be broken as this flap is bent inward and the edge of the cover may be raised sufficiently to furnish a good purchase for breaking the seal afforded by the spot gluing of the end laps l8 with the cover member.

This unsealing and opening of the container may, moreover, be accomplished without damage to any of its members, inasmuch as a clean breaking away of the adhesively attached parts will result, However, once the sealing of the members has been broken, this fact will be apparent by inspection of the parts, and hence the container is of a pilfer-proof nature.

After the container has been opened it may be desirable to close it again, say in case the contents have been only partially used, and this may be done simply by closing the cover and restoring the tuck-in flap to its original position, as shown in Fig. 3, but in unsealed condition. And it will be appreciated that when the tuck-in flap is thus restored the frictional grip to which it is 4 subjected by portions of the side wall member 6 and its tongue portion 23 bordering on the tongue-forming cuts 22 will be sufiicient to hold the cover member in closed condition.

Referring to Fig. 5, it will be noted that the interengaged relationship of the tuck-in flap 20, the tongue portion 23 and the portions of the side wall member 6 flanking such tongue portion, is of material advantage in the operation of sealing the carton or container. Obviously, when pressure is applied to the four surfaces of the container, and particularly to its vertical surfaces, in the sense illustrated, by the closely engaged walls ofv the. restricting tunnel formed by the synchronously travelling belts a, this pressure would normally have a tendency to force the tuck-in flap 20 inwardly away from the inner face of the side wall member 6 and thus break the adhesive bond between these parts. However, with these parts interengaged, as shown in Fig. 3, this tendency is overcome and sufficient stillness is imparted to the interengaged elements to withstand undue distortion and thus insure proper attachment of the parts during the setting period of the adhesive.

It will be understood that the pressure applying device of belt form, as shown, is merely illustrative of the general concept of devices of this character, and that the feature of resistance to pressure as embodied in the container construction of the invention will function regardless of the type of pressure applying device employed.

Various changes are considered to be within the principle of the invention and the scope of the following claim.

What is claimed is:

In a paperboard container, at bottom, side wall and end wall members upstanding from said bottom, and a cover member hinged to the upper edge ofone of said side wall members and carrying at its free edge opposite the hinge a continuous, unbroken, downwardly projecting tuck-in flap, the other side wall member being provided with spaced slits extending downwardly from its upper edge a distance at least equal to the projection of the tuck-in flap and furnishing between them a tongue portion, said cover member being maintained in closed condition by sealing attachment of its tuck-in flap to said other side wall member with a portion of said flap extended inwardly of and in face to face relation to said other side wall member and a portion engaged in said slits and overlying the outer face of said tongue portion.

RANSOM C. ELLSWORTH.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 

